Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
for many tourist regions around the world are prepared and sold. Organiza-
tions (e.g., OpenStreeMap.org) promote the development of freely accessible
geographic information using public domain standards.
One common approach to dealing with these changes has been for orga-
nizations investing in GI to attempt to recover all or some of the costs associ-
ated with gathering the GI. In some instances, public organizations even
attempt to make a profit on the sales. While cost recovery has a few suc-
cesses, for the most part more examples can be found where it has not
worked. The reason for the failures has been often that the data is not neces-
sary for the purposes, alternative data could be found, or people protested
against the perceived overcharging for data.
Technology changes are fueling new approaches to cost recovery that
may be more successful. Instead of relatively simple models for charging fees
or licenses based on the amount of data requested, service-orientated
approaches charge only for the data that has been used. These approaches
are certainly the result of distributed geoprocessing, which makes it possible
to access only the GI needed for a specific application over the Internet from
as many computers, no matter where located, if needed.
Distributed geoprocessing needs special coordination of the underlying
infrastructure. Internet connections break frequently, and if for some reason
this happens unbeknownst to the computer operator, a serious problem can
result. This also applies to the information technology used for displaying
and working with the GI. Distributed data, as a result, may be incomplete in
subtle but important ways. Distributed geoprocessing may not work in many
circumstances, no matter the perceived advantages. This is one of the main
limitations to these approaches, and as such is very technical in nature,
requiring special technical services and/or precautions. Another challenge,
along these lines, the reliable provision of Internet-based services over wire-
less networks and through cables, opens the doors to many opportunities for
GIS and mapping.
What Are the Opportunities?
The new and ongoing opportunities in GIS are so many that a separate topic
on them would be necessary to do them justice. Certainly, advances in tech-
nology mean that LBS-based approaches have received a great amount of
attention and will continue to be a focus for developments in the future. The
underlying technology requires technically adept individuals; the applica-
tions require many more individuals that can make the technology work and
best support various needs.
Employment
The opportunities for employment range from research and development to
support. On the one end, we find the people involved in creating and devel-
oping the technologies and devices. They are usually engineers, but oppor-
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